Australian discount not 20% off RRP - any reason why?

[Mirage091]

The price for Affinity Designer in the sale is GBP: 29.99 | USD: 39.99 | Euro: 39.99

 

Equivalent to - AUD: $50.04 | AUD: $53.78 | AUD: $57.20

 

Yet in the mac app store and through the site the price is $63 AUD. I'd like to know the rationalisation for this pricing as I find it concerning. I've been interested in purchasing Affinity as an alternative to photoshop [Designer, Photo and eventually Publisher] at full price but I feel somewhat cheated at seeing yet another company mark up the prices for Australian customers unfairly. Most companies I purchase products from keep a price of equivalent value to the american price. This is definitely something I and other Australian consumers appreciate so would appreciate feedback regarding this matter.

 

If the price was $53.78 or to be more even, rounded up to $55 I would definitely buy this software now in a heartbeat though my adobe subscription doesn't run out for a few more months. To clarify again my issue isn't with $63 being too expensive but with a seemingly unnecessary and unfair pricing disparity.

[MattP]

Hi Mirage091,

 

Welcome to the forums :)  I think I spotted this answered elsewhere and it's actually all down to the fact that we try to offer the same product for the same price on Mac and Windows. Basically, Apple have a pricing matrix where you only get the opportunity to set the $USD price and then they specify the local price in all other territories off their matrix. In some territories it works out better than others and I know it can seem unfair or a strange decision, but if you can at least understand it from our perspective that we have no way on Mac to specify the price in anything other than $USD so in order to make a uniform price for Windows or Mac then we have to follow that matrix with our own Windows pricing too...

 

Hope that explains why you're seeing what you're seeing?

 

Thanks :)

Matt

[wordsberry]

The price for Affinity Designer in the sale is GBP: 29.99 | USD: 39.99 | Euro: 39.99

 

Equivalent to - AUD: $50.04 | AUD: $53.78 | AUD: $57.20

 

Yet in the mac app store and through the site the price is $63 AUD. I'd like to know the rationalisation for this pricing as I find it concerning. I've been interested in purchasing Affinity as an alternative to photoshop [Designer, Photo and eventually Publisher] at full price but I feel somewhat cheated at seeing yet another company mark up the prices for Australian customers unfairly. Most companies I purchase products from keep a price of equivalent value to the american price. This is definitely something I and other Australian consumers appreciate so would appreciate feedback regarding this matter.

 

If the price was $53.78 or to be more even, rounded up to $55 I would definitely buy this software now in a heartbeat though my adobe subscription doesn't run out for a few more months. To clarify again my issue isn't with $63 being too expensive but with a seemingly unnecessary and unfair pricing disparity.

 

 

I think it's to do with Apple, rather than Serif. I live in NZ and I had to fork out 80 NZD to get the software at full price even though the conversion rate should amount to only 70NZD.

 

Also the full retail price is actually 75 AUD, 79.99 NZD, so you are actually getting a discount, but not exactly 20%

 

Now I've decided to just wait for Affinity Photo to go on sale sometime in the future before I purchase it so I can recoup the $10 dollars of value that gets lost through Apple. I think, if you feel a bit cheated with this weird pricing, maybe you should wait for sales to run before buying as well? 

[Mirage091]

Okay, I see! I had a good impression of Serif prior to this so I was unsure if maybe it was a weird pricing error or something along those lines - happy that's the case. :)

 

I wonder if it's possible in the future to sell the product directly through the website? Now that I've learnt this I'm thinking apple can be pretty lame about some things... Most of the software I've purchased for my mac has actually been through a web storefront and not the app store; I also prefer it this way. If that's possible I'll wait to purchase directly and cut the middleman; if not I'll wait to see if a future equivalent or better sale comes up before or around when my adobe subscription runs out.

 

Thank you for the prompt reply; you've certainly eased my concerns ^-^

 

I expect I'll use the forums more in the future when I've purchased the products so thanks for the welcome and looking forward to it :)

[Alfred]

I think it's to do with Apple, rather than Serif. I live in NZ and I had to fork out 80 NZD to get the software at full price even though the conversion rate should amount to only 70NZD. 

 

According to the price matrix on this page, the full price of 49.99 USD (Tier 50) should translate to 74.99 NZD, not 79.99 NZD. The same table confirms that the discounted price of 39.99 USD (Tier 40) corresponds to 62.99 AUD, which is 46.82 USD at the current exchange rate; the NZ price at Tier 40 is 59.99 NZD, which is only 42.34 USD.

[wordsberry]

According to the price matrix on this page, the full price of 49.99 USD (Tier 50) should translate to 74.99 NZD, not 79.99 NZD. The same table confirms that the discounted price of 39.99 USD (Tier 40) corresponds to 62.99 AUD, which is 46.82 USD at the current exchange rate; the NZ price at Tier 40 is 59.99 NZD, which is only 42.34 USD.

 

Yes my mistake, My store was set to the Australian store and I got charged 79.99, I travel between the two countries and when I returned to NZ, I had accidentally forgot to change stores and got dinged with the extra 5 bucks... I have since changed my store settings to NZ since it seems Australians seem to be 'taxed' more heavily on the App store.. 

[Alfred]

Yes my mistake, My store was set to the Australian store and I got charged 79.99, I travel between the two countries and when I returned to NZ, I had accidentally forgot to change stores and got dinged with the extra 5 bucks... I have since changed my store settings to NZ since it seems Australians seem to be 'taxed' more heavily on the App store.. 

 

Meanwhile, Apple have changed the Mac App Store pricing matrix, and Tier 50 products have increased in price in the UK from 39.99 GBP to 48.99 GBP. :(

[wordsberry]

Meanwhile, Apple have changed the Mac App Store pricing matrix, and Tier 50 products have increased in price in the UK from 39.99 GBP to 48.99 GBP. :(

 

It is unfortunate and seems hardly justified to charge so much more for the same product in other countries, especially if it's a digital product. Hopefully affinity move out of the app store and distribute the software themselves like Bohemian did for sketch a few years ago. Same prices across international borders seems to be the most fair thing to do.